Operation: OgaFuru
by LuxrayLove
Summary: The little moments may seem small and hardly worth mentioning but they add together to become something beautiful. -Or- Oga likes Furuichi, Furuichi is clueless, the Redtails try to get them together, Kunieda gets over Oga, and Baby Beel thinks humans are strange. Rated M for language mostly.


**Operation: OgaFuru**

Disclaimer: I don't own Beelzebub.

I'm sorry in advance if characters seem OOC or if I make a mistake or 10. This is my first Beelzebub story. This takes place during Oga and Furuichi's 2nd year at Ishiyama. After Satan, but before their graduation. I'm planning on this only being a one-shot.

*Knock Knock*

Furuichi groans and buries his head under his blanket as he turns over. Suddenly, the door is slammed open and he bolts upright, frightened. The amused laugh from his best friend makes Furuichi glare and plop back against his bed to get comfortable again. Oga places his hands on his hips and grins at the baby on his back. Beelzebub comments with a "Dah," before Oga grabs the thick blanket and pulls it off the bed.

The white-haired boy frowns and sits up again, starting to shiver in only his sleep shirt and sweatpants. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Oga ignores him and capes the blanket on his own shoulders and Beel before sitting down on the ground in front of the tv and booting up a game. Beel climbs from under the blanket and settles into Oga's lap, chattering excitedly. A vein pulses on Furuichi's temple as he watches. "Don't just sit there, Idiot Furuichi, come play."

Furuichi sighs in defeat and sits down next to Oga, stealing his blanket back before grabbing the other controller. Oga pulls the blanket to steal it once again, but Furuichi grabs the end and pulls back leading to a tug-of-war with it. With an especially hard tug, Furuichi's hand slips off the edge of the blanket and falls back onto the floor, making Beelzebub giggle. The white-haired boy frowns and sits down with huff beside the wild-haired parent. "Fine. Take it. I'll just freeze."

Oga scoots closer to his friend and drapes one side of the blanket over his shoulders, avoiding eye contact with a confused Furuichi as he grabs his controller. Furuichi decides to shrug it off as one of Oga's weird actions and grabs his controller too. The room is silent save for the gruesome death noises from the game and the happy chattering of Beel as he sits between the two teenagers and pulls the edges of the blanket closed around him, trapping the heat from the three bodies inside. "By the way, I got a letter from Miki yesterday."

Furuichi, used to Oga bringing up random things while they play games, just frowns as he struggles to keep his character alive. "Oh yeah? What was it about?"

"Apparently St. Ishayama is doing that Couple Christmas thing this year again."

"Don't they do it every year?" Furuichi asks, confused about why he should care.

"He said that they're having trouble getting people to participate this year so he wants to invite the Ishiyama students from last year to compete again. Haha! Guess they want to get beaten again!"

At the thought of another chance to do couple-ish things with a girl, Furuichi smiles and turns to Oga. "Really?"

Oga takes the distraction to kill the other character and looks to the other boy. "Yeah, but I don't think I'm gonna do it."

Furuichi smiles wider as he starts to think about how he finally had a chance to win with Oga not participating, but a sudden thought hits him. "Ishiyama won't be much help, though. Half of those students graduated and besides, I won't be able to blackmail another girl to go with me this year."

Oga nudges his friends shoulder to get him to look back at the screen and starts another game. After they sit for a few minutes, he continues the conversation. "Why not just enter with me? We didn't see the 'actual Santa' last year so maybe this year Beel will get to."

The white-haired boy laughs. "Yeah. Like I'll enter with you. Besides, the poster said the only requirement was it had to be a boy-girl team."

Oga shrugs. "I'll ask anyway."

"Oi! Weren't you listening to me? I'm not entering with you!"

The BoB Brawler ignores his friend and continues the game, seemingly dropping the subject. After a few hours of playing, Oga notices Beelzebub starting to get cranky and stands up, stretching. "I should get Beel back to the house before Hilda comes looking for him. I left his milk again."

Furuichi pulls his blanket closed around him as he looks up at the parent. "Shouldn't he be starting to eat food by now?"

Oga shrugs and looks at the baby on his back. "Hell if I know. I'll just let Hilda deal with shit like that."

Furuichi frowns. "Don't you think you're leaving too much up to HIlda?"

Oga doesn't say anything as he stares at the other. Furiuchi looks away. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

Oga just waves, talking to Beel.

Furuichi yelps as his sister slaps him again. After he came home with several cuts from that crazy girl that confessed to Oga, Honoka finally decided that enough was enough and started sessions with her brother on how to talk to girls. "No! Takayuki! You can't say that to a girl! That's so creepy!"

The boy rubs his sore face. "Okay. Again."

She nods and clears her throat as she looks down at the pile of papers in front of her. "Okay, this one looks good." She looks up. "The setting is a beach. The target is a 16-year-old girl with a blonde pixie cut. She is in a blue bikini and comes up to you as you sit in the sand asking if you have any sunblock to borrow. What do you say?"

Furuichi starts to blush at the imagery, but shakes his head a little to think. Normally, he would first comment on her beauty and then offer to help her rub sunblock on her back, hoping she'd accept. He frowns, but last time he tried that response in one of these sessions, he was punched so hard in the head, a large bruise formed and stayed for a couple days. Hmm. "Well, first I'd smile."

Honoka frowns. "Do the smile you would give."

Furuichi smiles as if the bikini-wearer was in front of him. Another slap. "Ow! Dammit!"

"That was creepy! She'd immediately know you were thinking of her boobs!"

The boy groans and rubs his face in a pout. "Then how am I supposed to smile at her?"

His sister crosses her arms. "Like a human being, you trash."

"That's what I thought I was doing!"

"No! Every time you smile at a girl, it's clear you see her as a future conquest, a piece of meat to romance. Just smile at them as if they're a friend, or better yet, like they're your grandparents."

"Why grandparents?"

"People you respect for no other reason than that they are who they are. It makes people, especially girls, feel special."

Furuichi rubs his face with both hands as he thinks. He takes a deep breath and smiles, imagining his grandma holding out a tray of cookies to him. It relaxes his cheeks and his eyes soften. He hears a gasp and focuses on Honoka, his smile slipping. "Like that?"

She laughs and holds up a hand for a highfive. "That was perfect! Just do that smile with girls from now on and you won't get hit. For that, anyway. Now back to the scenerio. This 16-year-old blonde bikini-wearing girl is asking for some sunblock. What do you say?"

"Okay, well I smile like I'm looking at Grandma, then I say...Yes ma'am, I-"

"No!"

"What am I doing wrong now?"

"Don't call a woman ma'am, especially if you don't know their age. It makes them feel old and you know how girls feel about their age."

"Okay. Okay. So I won't say ma'am. I'll smile and say a simple yes as I stand up and give her the bottle."

"Hm. Close, but no. I think in this situation, you should stay sitting down. They'll feel like you're trying to size up over them. If you sit and hand the bottle up to them, it'd empower them and make you look smaller and softer."

Furuichi holds his chin as he thinks this over and nods as he takes in the information. "That makes sense."

"Let's do one more, then I think- Alaindelon! Not yet! I'm still teaching him!"

Furuichi gasps and turns around to see the transferral demon starting to split open. He tries to scramble off his butt to run, but he's already starting to get sucked in. Honoka quickly throws him his jacket and shoes before he's closed in and transferred.

The white-haired boy falls onto a familiar hallway and stands up, angry. He pulls on his shoes and jacket quickly, freezing, the whole time glaring at Oga. "Can't you just call me? I have a cellphone!" Then he notices that the hallway is familiar, but not the hallway he was expecting. "Hey, what are we doing in St. Ishiyama?"

Oga looks at Furuichi like he's dumb and grabs the other boy in a headlock as he drags him down the hallway. "Idiot Furuichi, I told you why last week."

Furuichi stops struggling, accepting to being dragged, as he tries to remember last week. Then he remembers that morning they played games and he starts dragging his feet. "Oga! Hey, you ass! Let go! I told you no!"

They reach the office and Oga bursts in, still dragging the struggling Furuichi beside him. Miki is in the room and smiles when he sees his friends from middle school. "Oga! I'm glad you decided to enter. You too, Furuichi! Did you fill out the forms?"

Oga picks his ear with his free hand. "Forms? I just have the one. We're entering together."

Furuichi finally punches Oga in the side and escapes from the headlock. "You dumbass! I said I wasn't going to enter with you! Besides, only girl-boy couples could enter. Right MIki?"

"Well about that..."

Furuichi's jaw drops as he looks at Miki in disbelief. "What does that mean?"

Miki shrugs. "We changed the rules this year. We were hoping that by accepting homosexual couples as well, the entering couples would increase, but it didn't help too much. That's why I reached out to Ishiyama."

Oga gives the filled out form to Miki then looks to Furuichi. The white-haired boy can feel the competetiveness oozing off him. "Come on, Furuichi! We'll crush 'em!"

Furuichi sputters and stomps. "I still did not accept entering into this competition with you, Oga! Are you even listening to me?"

Miki takes the form and looks it over before putting it on the desk with the other turned in forms and smiles at Oga. "Thank you for entering! The competition is on Saturday."

Furuichi's mouth opens again in shock. "You too? Hey, listen to me! I do not consent!"

Oga passes by Furuichi, hitting shoulders with him. The white-haired male sighs and just slumps his shoulders as he gives up. "Fine. It's for Beel anyway, right?."

The baby beams and excitedly waves at Furuichi. He smiles back and the teenagers walk side by side out of the building. Miki watches them leave with a slight feeling of jealousy, but mostly, he's amused at their interaction. "They have no clue what they're walking into this year."

"You seem different, Furuichi."

Said boy looks at the redhead in confusion. "What do you mean, Nene?"

"I don't know. You just seem... different."

Furuichi takes another bite of his sandwich and thinks. "Well, I have been trying to grow out my hair. Is that it?"

She rolls her eyes. "No, Creepichi, that's not- That's it! You haven't been as creepy lately!"

Yuka gasps and looks at the white-haired boy. "You're right! He's been pretty normal lately. Even around Lamia!"

"Hey! I've told you before that I had nothing with Lamia."

"Sure sure. But what I wanna know is who you're entering the St. Ishiyama Christmas Competition with," Nene asks, crossing her arms, not completely convinced that Creepichi has changed.

Oga walks in then and casually sets a half empty bottle of water on Furuichi's desk before sitting on the desk beside him, starting to make a bottle for Beel. Furuichi ignores him and waves his hand dismissively at the question. "That's not important. Are you girls entering?"

The girls share a look and then stare at Furuichi intensely. He starts to feel uncomfortable and takes another bite of his sandwich. Yuka leans closer and hums in thought. Furuichi starts choking on his sandwich, his throat drying out in nervousness. He quickly grabs the bottle from his desk and chugs the rest of the bottle to save himself from suffocating.

Kunieda walks in and frowns when she sees her girls pressuring Furuichi. "What are you doing?"

"We're trying to get Furuichi to tell us who he entered the St. Ishiyama thing with. He seems embarrassed about it," Yuka says, grinning evilly.

Kunieda glances at Oga who is ignoring the others as he feeds Beelzebub and eating a couple bites of croquette with his other hand. Nene and Yuka notice the glance and nod to each other. They back off Furuichi and instead, move over to focus on Oga. Furuichi sighs in relief as he stands up to throw his trash away and decides to take this time to buy a drink from the vending machine in the hallway. "You're entering the St. Ishiyama Competition aren't you, Oga?" Nene asks.

Oga looks up with a bored look. "Yeah. I already turned in the form."

Kunieda pretends not to be listening as she sits down with her lunch, but freezes as she hears his response. She forces herself to look relaxed as she opens her bento. "Oh! Who are you going with?" Yuka asks as Nene gives Kunieda a sympathetic look.

"Eh? Oh, Furuichi," Oga says as he bites into another croquette.

All three girls snap their heads over to Furuichi who is walking back into the room with a new bottle of water. He immediately notices their gazes and hesitantly sits back down in his previous seat. "So do you girls have any Christmas plans?" he asks, trying to break the awkward silence.

The three girls ignore him. Kunieda gazes into her bento and slowly starts eating while the other two have a silent conversation between them with their eyes. Suddenly, Nene stands up and leaves the room with Yuka following her. Furuichi watches them leave and then looks at Kunieda. He understands. He really does. He knows how much she likes Oga and he especially knows how dense Oga can be. It has been two years and he still hasn't caught onto the girl's feelings. It's become even more clear after Hebiko tried confessing to him and he beat her up. Furuichi takes a long drink from his water bottle and clears his throat to get Kunieda's attention. It works and she looks at him, hurt in her eyes, but also acceptance that her love will never love her back. He smiles his Grandma-Smile, hoping it would portray his apologies for Oga's cluelessness. She freezes, then smiles back with a tear in her eye. "Thank you," she mouths before wiping her eye and eating normally.

Beel starts chattering and playing around on Oga's shoulders. The brunet stands up and stretches as he yawns. "I'm gonna go home. I need a nap," he says as he walks slowly over to the door.

"Oga! You can't just go home! It's the middle of the day," Furuichi scolds, standing up too.

"It's not like we do anything important here anyway."

"Teachers still count your absences though."

"But I'm tired."

"Then just sleep in the nurse's office or something," Furuichi says, reaching Oga at the door, knowing it's futile to argue, but still doing it anyway.

Oga takes the water bottle from Furuichi's hands and takes a drink as they walk. Beel touches the bottle and pops the pacifier out of mouth with his other. Oga smirks and looks at the baby. "You want some? It's just water."

The baby lets out a frustrated "Dah!" and points at his mouth. Oga chuckles and carefully pours a small amount into his mouth so he wouldn't choke.

Kunieda watches the three leave with her stomach twisting. "Maybe... No. Furuichi is a perverted woman-chaser. They can't be." She finishes her bento alone and sighs as she calls Nene to find out where her friends went.

Saturday morning starts out bad for Furuichi. When he wakes up, he's so disoriented with sleep, he ends up falling out of bed and hits his head on the ground hard, his forehead starting to bruise immediately. He finally untangles himself from the blankets and goes to the bathroom for a shower. When he gets out of the shower, he realizes he forgot clothes so he shivers in only his towel on his way back to his room. When he is back in his room, he realizes that he forgot to bring out his laundry yesterday so the only clean clothes he has is a pair of pants from the year before that have become a little snug and a shirt his sister had given him as a joke for his birthday the month before. He grumbles as he dries his hair and walks downstairs for breakfast.

Honoka is the first to notice his outfit and laughs loudly. Furuichi groans as he sits down. "You won't get any girls with that outfit, Takayuki," she laughs, wiping tears.

Furuichi sets his head down on the table. "I know!" he moans in despair. "It's the only thing I had clean."

"If you remembered to bring your clothes down like I told you, you wouldn't have that problem," his mother says as she sets his breakfast in front of him.

Furuichi's father sighs and takes a drink from his coffee. "If Alaindelon was here, he'd have done it for you."

The white-haired boy silently ignores his father. After the whole Satan fiasco, Furuichi had finally convinced his family that he was not in fact sleeping with the transferral demon and that demons really did exist. His mother and sister had accepted it and apologized for misunderstanding him that whole time while his father had a harder time dealing with the truth. He would rather think the weird old man was sleeping with his son. Honoka still needs convincing when Lamia visits, but other than that, everything had become bearable in his household.

"Dear, you know Alaindelon had to return home to his daughter. It's the holidays, after all."

He just grunts into his coffee. Furuichi's mother gives him an apologetic look. He smiles at her to let her know that he didn't take his father's comments to heart and gets up to start heading out. Then he remembers where he was heading and slows. The boy wavers, but ultimately decides it's too late to cancel. He slips his shoes on and reaches for his coat, but notices it's not there. He stares at the empty space for a moment, not registering the fact. Honoka sees her brother's predicament and can't help the laugh. "Oh no! I forgot to tell you that Oga borrowed your coat last night when he went home."

Furuichi toes his shoes off again and starts walking back upstairs. If there were such things as omens, then this whole morning would be a gigantic sign telling him that he shouldn't leave his bed. "That's it. I'm not going."

The doorbell rings and Furuichi's mother answers the door. "Takayuki, Oga's here!"

Furuichi continues climbing. "Tell him I'm not here!"

"Oi! I can hear you!" Oga yells.

"Tell him I'm sick or something," the boy continues, pretending his friend didn't say anything.

Oga growls and realizing the reason for his father's frustration, Beelzebub takes his pacifier out and chunks it at Furuichi, hitting the back of the head and making him fall forward on the stairs. Oga laughs and compliments Beel on his aim before going over and blocking Furuichi's way back to his room as he stands up again. Furuichi gives Beel his pacifier back and climbs down the stairs again to the door. As he slips his shoes on, he realizes that Oga brought back his jacket. He chooses not to thank his friend since Oga had taken the coat without permission to begin with. Furuichi's mother wishes the two a safe journey and they start walking to St. Ishiyama.

"What's with that outfit?" Oga asks, strolling in a bored fashion.

Furuichi flushes in embarrassment when he remembers what he's wearing and quickly turns around. "I'm going home."

Oga catches Furuichi's arm and turns him back around, continuing to walk. "What are you being a wuss for? We'll beat everyone there!"

Furuichi watches the evil confident smile on Oga's face and decides it doesn't matter what he says. Once Oga decides something is a challenge, he has to beat it. The white-haired boy takes his arm back and they settle into small talk while they walk.

In the front of the building they are supposed to enter, a group of thugs are harassing the students for their pocket change. One of the thugs sees the two and saunters up to them, clearly unaware of who they are. "Give us yer pocket change ya fuckin' richies or Imma hitcha. Got it?"

Oga smiles and chuckles darkly as he cracks his knuckles. "It's been awhile since I fought a crowd. Bring it."

Furuichi hangs back as Oga starts pulverizing the unsuspecting thugs, thoroughly enjoying every hit. Ishiyama's gotten quieter since Oga rose to the top. Every now and then someone would challenge him in belief that they had gotten strong enough to overthrow him, but so far, no one has done it. Furuichi could tell that Oga's getting bored with no one to fight. If he could get Tojo in between jobs, they would spar, but even that isn't enough to fully satisfy the BoB Brawler. Furuichi joins Oga once the last thug is dropped and they walk into the building together. Miki meets them at the door and grins. "You know, we could've handled it right?"

Oga ignores the question, looking around. "Is there anything to eat?"

Furuichi lightly punches his friends shoulder. "Hey. Don't just think about food!"

Miki chuckles and waves dismissively. "It's fine. We have a buffet table along the wall over there. Can I take your jackets?"

Oga drops his jacket on Miki and walks straight to the buffet table. Furuichi scowls at his back and takes his jacket off. "I'm sorry Miki. That pig has no manners," he says as he hands his friend his jacket.

Miki glances at Furuichi with a smile and turns around to take the coats to the coat room. "Nice shirt," he comments.

Furuichi flushes, again forgetting his shirt. He subconsciously hunches his shoulder to try to hide it. His sister thought it was hilarious when he opened the gift box and frowned deeply. He planned on hiding the raglan shirt in the back of his closet forever. The pink 3/4 sleeves were bad enough, but on the white chest area was also a big red heart with the kanji for love written in black in the middle of it, the whole thing giving off a girly vibe. At this moment, he was cursing Honoka's sense of humor. "Whatever," he murmurs, his face deeply red.

Miki laughs and turns back to his friend once the coats are deposited. "Seriously, don't be too embarrassed. It doesn't look that bad."

Furuichi stares at Miki, trying to decide if he's being mocked. "Just to be clear, this was the only shirt I had clean and my sister had given it to me."

Miki just shrugged his shoulders. "Okay. Oh hey, I have to go greet some more guests. We'll talk later."

He leaves Furuichi by himself, still embarrassed. He decides that he can live with the embarrassment of wearing a pink shirt, compared to remembering how bad he was at talking to girls before Honoka started those sessions of hers. He sighs and starts looking for Oga and Beel, hoping they haven't gotten into trouble in the time it took him to talk to Miki.

As he dodges a few rowdy St. Ishiyama students, he bumps into someone. He immediately gives his Grandma-Smile and apologizes before realizing it's Kunieda. "Oh! I didn't know you entered."

She recognizes Furuichi then looks down at his shirt. He can tell she wants to ask about it, but is too polite to ask. Why wasn't Oga dating this girl again? Oh yeah, Oga is allergic to romance. Furuichi shrugs and gives a simple, "Sister."

She nods in understanding. An arm wraps around her shoulder and she tenses a moment before giving the man an annoyed look. Furuichi recognizes the blond man as Aiba, the man that fell in love with Kunieda. Aiba smiles at him and hugs Kunieda tighter to his chest. "Hey. I hope you're not bothering my date here."

Furuichi feels a little angry that this guy didn't know who he was, but thinking back to the field trip, he wasn't included in too much of the excitement so he could understand. Kunieda pushes Aiba's arm off her and folds her arms across her chest as she gives the blond a disapproving look. "This is my friend Furuichi. And we're not on a date. I promised Nene that I would enter this competition."

Aiba just rubs the back of his head in apology and smiles over at Furuichi. "Sorry man. I didn't know. I'm Aiba Izou."

"Furuichi Takayuki," he replies. Then he looks at Kuneida. "Have you happened to see Oga?"

The blond gasps and steps closer to the white-haired boy. "You know Oga Tatsumi?"

Kunieda frowns at the South High student. "They're best friends," she answers for him before turning to Furuichi with an apologetic look. "Sorry. I haven't seen him yet. Have you tried the buffet yet?"

Furuichi smiles. "I was just on my way there. I just thought I should ask. You know him."

Kunieda nods and waves back to Furuichi as he leaves. It doesn't take too long for Furuichi to find Oga eating a croquette by the table, feeding one to the baby Demon Lord. Beel waves happily to Furuichi and chatters to him. Furuichi smiles and pretends to listen as he looks over the table. It's huge with several types of foods served, a mix of common foods and things only a highclass school like St. Ishiyama would have. He is deciding if he wants to try a cookie first or wait until after the event when Oga says his name. Furuichi looks over in curiosity when a cookie is shoved roughly into his mouth. He kicks Oga in the leg as he chews, then realizes that he really likes the taste. He picks up three more of the same cookie, ignoring Oga's complaint on the 'random' kick.

Aiba stops talking as he notices Kunieda still looking in the direction Furuichi went. He watches with Kunieda as Oga shoves a cookie into the other boy's mouth. He sees the weak guy kick Oga and the childrearing badass complain, but otherwise let it go. Now that he thinks about it, he remembers Furuichi sharing a room with Oga and his blonde 'wife' on their vacation. Aiba glances at Kunieda again and sees her distant look. He can tell that she still likes Oga and is jealous of his closeness with the other boy. Aiba shakes if off and smiles as he wraps his arm around Kunieda's shoulders again to distract her. She doesn't shake him off this time.

The building silences when the intercom clicks and the announcer girl welcomes everyone to the annual event. **"Now our first event will be a Couple Coconut Race! Each couple will have to hold a coconut in between their bodies without using their hands as they race to the end of the building. The first 16 couples that finish will go on to the next stage. Ready! Set! Go!"**

Furuichi and Oga hold the coconut between their chests as they start running sideways, but Furuichi soon realizes how inconvenient it is. He stops a reluctant Oga before explaining how he plans to hold the coconut to give them the best chance. They slide the coconut from between their chests to one side, holding it between Furuichi's right and Oga's left forearms. Oga doesn't hesitate to start running again, making Furuichi run too to keep up and keep the coconut between them. They quickly pass several couples who have stuck with keeping the coconut between their chests. Furuichi notices that they still aren't in the top 16 yet and mentions so to Oga. The brunet growls and throws a random Zebul Blast in front of them. A handful of couples either get hit and fall or drop their coconuts as they dodge. Oga is about to throw another one. "Wait! We're in the top 16 now! Don't use another one!"

Oga stops the attack, but still starts to run faster. Furuichi barely keeps up. Once they pass the finish line, Furuichi drops to the ground to catch a breath, making the coconut drop. "Tired already? Man, you've become soft," Oga says as he watches his friend breathe heavily.

"Die," he gasps. He didn't realize how much his fitness went down since the year before until he had to run. With hardly any fighting at Ishiyama as they tried to settle back into the building, he had no reason to run.

Beel climbs down Oga and crawls over to Furuichi. The baby giggles as he climbs onto the white-haired boy's stomach and sits down facing Furuichi's face. Furuichi's breathing evens out and he watches the baby. Beel beams at him and starts slapping the teenager's chest, saying something that Furuichi thinks means something along the lines of "I'm glad you're not dying."

Furuichi smiles and wraps his arms around the baby as he stands up so he doesn't get knocked off. Furuichi holds Beel out to Oga, so the baby can take his place on the stronger delinquent's back, but Beel struggles and crawls over Furuichi's shoulder onto his back. The unfamiliar feeling of warmth on his back makes him feel unusually happy. He looks at Oga with a questioning look. Oga watches with a confused look as well before breaking into a wide grin. "Now you can keep him! I'm free!"

As Oga starts to walk away happily, Furuichi notices Beelzebub start to get sad and his eyes start watering. Furuichi panics. "Wait! Oga! Beel's gonna cry!"

Oga glances over his shoulder and sees Furuichi trying to figure out what to do. He watches his friend try to bribe the baby with a cookie, but Beel doesn't seem interested. He's about to go back and take the upset baby from his best friend, when Furuichi suddenly pokes Beel in the forehead. Beelzebub blinks in surprise then looks at Furuichi in confusion, accepting the again offered cookie. Oga barely stops the smile trying to force its way onto his face. "Come on, Idiot Furuichi. We need to draw out our number."

They walk up to the lot drawing box together. Beel crawls from Furuichi's shoulder to Oga's shoulder as Furuichi draws a tennis ball with a 16 on it. Their names are added to the tournament screen and they move to the side so the next couple could draw. Once every couple draws, the ring in the middle of the room rises and the first two couples are called.

The time finally comes that Oga and Furuichi are called onto the stage. In the ring are two podiums on each side for the couples to stand at. Furuichi and Oga step up to them and face the young girl and boy couple they are against. The intercom clicks on. **"For this match, the couples will be participating in a game we call 'Do You Know Them?' One of each team will put on soundproof headphone and a blindfold. We will put up a question on the screen and without saying anything, the one half of the team without the blindfold will write the answer on a poster in front of you. When the time is up, we will take the headphones and blindfold off the one teammate and ask them the question. Afterwards, we will ask the other member to show your answers. With every matching answer, your team will receive 10 points. The team with the most points at the end of the game will win. Any questions? Great! Begin!"**

Furuichi frowns at the screen. He actually had some questions. Oga is the first one to put on the blindfold and headphones. The screen changes and the first question pops up. _What Is Your Partner's Favorite Color?_ Furuichi freezes as he stares at the screen. How the hell was he supposed to know Oga's favorite color? He wasn't even sure Oga had one. He quickly writes in _Doesn't have one._

When the time runs out, Furuichi pulls the headphones off Oga to let him know the time ran out. He pulls the blindfold off himself and the announcer asks the question out loud. Oga taps his chin then smiles, showing his sharp teeth. "Red."

 **"Now Teammates A, show your answers!"**

Furuichi shows his board as he glares at Oga. "How the hell is red your favorite color?"

Oga continues to smile evilly. "Red like the blood of the enemies I've crushed."

His friend just shakes his head as he starts putting on the blindfold and headphones. "I should've known."

Furuichi stands in complete silence until the headphones are knocked roughly off his head. He frowns at Oga. **"The question was** _ **What Is Your Partner's Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?**_ **Teammate A, what are your answers?"**

The boy on the other team answers first then Furuichi says "Strawberry."

 **"Teammates B, show your answers!"**

Oga flips his poster and shows a scribbled _Strobery._ Furuichi shakes his fist at the boy. "You idiot! Can't you spell?"

Oga shrugs. "I got it right, didn't I?"

 **"Alright! So far the teams are tied with 10 points each! Next round!"**

Oga puts on the gear and the screen changes again. _What Is One Trait Of Your Partner's That Annoys You The Most?_ Furuichi deadpans and uncaps his marker. _None. He's perfect._

The time runs out and Oga is asked the question. He puts on a peaceful face, Beel mocking him, and they make an innocent gesture. "What do you mean? I'm perfect!"

 **"O-okay. Teammates A, what are your answers?"**

He flips his poster and Oga smiles. Furuichi glances up and notices the couple in front of them are starting to argue. Apparently they got another question wrong. In a way, it's kind of unfair since Oga and he had grown up together and the other couple probably just met a couple months ago. Looking back at Oga and seeing his smile, he starts to not care about the other couple. They are winning now. Furuichi puts on the gear and spends another few minutes in silence until time is up.

 **"The question was** _ **What Word Best Describes Your Partner First Thing In The Morning?"**_

Furuichi thinks for a moment. He'd normally say upbeat or cheerful, but considering how it was Oga, he decides with, "Annoying?"

Oga flips his board to show the mispelled word.

 **"Amazing! Another 10 points to the Oga-Furuichi team! The score is now 30-10! Can they keep up this momentum? Next Round!"**

Oga puts on the gear and the next question appears. _When Did You Have Your First Fight and What Was It About?_ Furuichi hesitates. Did he really want to right this down? It seems kind of personal. He looks over at Oga who is enduring Baby Beel slapping his cheek and pulling his hair, looking bored. Whatever. _5th Grade. Being Friends._

Oga is asked the question. He stands quietly for a moment before nonchalantly saying, "5th grade, about whether this idiot should hang around me."

Furuichi flips his poster and they gain another 10 points. **"Due to the difference in scores, we have decided that this last question will be a quick round. When we bring out the last question, no one will have to put on the blindfold and headphones. Begin!"**

 _Who In Your Couple Is Smarter?_

Furuichi deadpans as he points to himself the same time Oga says his name. The couple across from them says the other and then starts arguing about it.

 **"The winners are the Oga-Furuichi Team! Congrats! May the next couples step up!"**

They climb down from the ring and immediately get ambushed by an excited Kazuya and Azusa. "Big Bro! I didn't know you entered this year too! That was great! You knew so much about each other!"

Oga shrugs and Furuichi smiles at Kazuya. "It's just because we were friends for so long. I'm sure you two would've scored the same."

Azusa and Kazuya blush as they look at each other and quickly look away. Furuichi laughs and starts asking them about the event they did earlier called an Ice Cream Race, where they had to feed ice cream to their partner without using their hands. Kazuya laughs as he blushes when he remembers being so close to Azusa's face during the event. They talk until the Yamamura-Fujisaki team is called up. They win and next it's Oga and Furuichi's turn again. As they pass Kazuya and Azusa, Kazuya grins at Oga. "We'll be against each other in the next round. Be ready."

Oga grins back competetively. "You be ready to lose."

When only the two couples are in the ring, the intercom clicks. **"This event is called 'Find Your Mate'. In this event, one teammate of each team will be blindfolded. Once they are blindfolded a handful of volunteers will enter the ring and be lined up with Teammates B mixed in with them. The blindfolded parties will then have to choose their partner from the line of bodies without removing their blindfold and without a single word spoken. If any of the teams get an audible hint, they are disqualified. Begin!"**

The helpers of the event blindfold Oga, saying how it'd be too easy for Furuichi to find Oga by just feeling for a baby. Once both teams are ready, six people silently climb into the ring. Furuichi is surprised to see Aiba and Nene among them. They all stand quietly in line as the boy from the other team and Oga walk towards the line. The boy reaches his hand up and gently runs his fingers over the first girl's face, feeling her facial structure. The girl blushes, but stays silent. He moves over to the next person and immediately moves away, feeling the stubble on the other guy's chin. Furuichi moves his attention to Oga and almost screams at him. He has a fist raised at the poor girl on the other end of the line. He slowly brushes his fist against her cheek then turns away from her. He steps up to Nene and does the same fist brush with her. He does the same with the girl next to her and Aiba. He's starting to frown as he fist brushes against the girl next to him. Next up is Furuichi. He holds his breath as Oga raises his fist and brushes his cheek with it. Oga stops and brushes his fist against his cheek again before punching him roughly in the shoulder and pulling him from the line with a smile.

 **"Amazing! Oga has found his partner before even going through the whole line! The winners of this round are the Oga-Furuichi team!"**

Oga raises the blindfold right as Furuichi punches his shoulder as hard as he can. Oga glares at him. "What was that for?"

"You punched me first!"

"It's the only way I could make sure it was you. If it was someone else, they would've cried."

Furuichi starts shaking in frustration. "Exactly! What if it was someone else!"

Oga shrugs. "I knew it was you, so don't worry about it."

Furuichi gives up and follows Oga, Beel starting to pull Oga's hair irritably. "You should probably feed him before he makes you bald."

Oga feels around his head in panic and pulls Beel from his hair. "I'm not going bald am I? Am I?"

Furuichi covers his mouth with one hand as he pretends to look and gasps. "Oh I think this part here is thinning."

Oga runs with Baby Beel to the bathroom to check. Furuichi laughs at the running teenager. Who would've thought the badass would be afraid of losing his hair? Aiba is standing by the ring since his semi-final battle is up next when he sees Furuichi by himself. He walks up to the white-haired boy and smiles while placing an arm over his shoulders in a friendly way. Furuichi freezes then relaxes when he recognizes Aiba. "That was a quick match. You two sure know each other."

Furuichi shrugs. "It's nothing special like everyone makes it seem. We've just known each other for a while."

Aiba watches the smaller boy closely and sees that that's how he really feels. Aiba doesn't understand how this boy doesn't see the difference in the way Oga treats him and everyone else. He's called into the ring for his match so he lets go of Furuichi and smiles. "Well I'll see you around Furuichi!"

After Kunieda and Aiba win and move onto the finals, Kazuya and Azusa are called to the ring against Oga and Furuichi. Kazuya and Oga stare challengingly at each other while Azusa and Furuichi just greet each other. They shake hands for a good match and turn to their corners. Furuichi sees the table stand with a single large bottle on it and freezes, his throat drying out. "Oh no. Why can't it just be a brawl round?"

Oga raises his eyebrow at his friend. "What are you talking about?"

 **"For the second semi-final battle, you wil be participating in the 'Indirect Kiss' Challenge! The bottle is so carbonated that it'd make a single person sick so it'd be best to share. The first couple to finish will move on to the finals! Begin!"**

Oga grabs the bottle and twists the lid, immediately takes a sip. Furuichi watches him. Does he not understand what this challenge means? Oga hums and tips the bottle to the smaller teen. "You try."

Furuichi blushes and stammers. "What are you talking about? Don't you understand what this competition is?"

"Come on. Don't be a bitch. Just take a drink."

"No."

"It's for Beel, remember? Now stop being a bitch."

"...No. And I'm not a bitch."

"You hesitated. Didn't you want to be in this competition?"

Furuichi blushes and folds his arms across his chest. "Yeah. With a _girl._ "

"Beggers can't be losers."

Furuichi rubs the bridge of his nose. "Stupid. It's beggers can't be choosers."

"Whatever."

 **"Uh oh. Looks like team Oga-Furuichi is having a problem sharing. At this rate, team Yamamura-Fujisaki will move onto the finals."**

Oga takes another long drink then glances at Furuichi. "You like mango right?"

Furuichi is in the middle of saying yes when the bottle is forced into his mouth and he is forced to take a drink. Furuichi pulls the bottle from his mouth to yell at Oga, but the taste registers on his tongue and he looks at the bottle in his hand in surprise. "Wow. Mango and strawberry."

"I told you."

Oga tries to get the bottle back, but Furuichi pushes Oga's face away so he can take another long drink. Oga growls and snatches the bottle from between the other's lips, making some water dribble down his chin. The taller teen starts chugging and Furuichi grunts. "You always do this! Share!" He pulls Oga's hair, surprising the other, and takes the bottle, starting to drink again.

 **"Now they're fighting over it... You do realize that you're on the same team right?"**

Oga pushes Furuichi's chest and snatches the bottle again as the smaller stumbles. He chugs the rest of the bottle and slams it down on the table, looking over at Furuichi with a victorious grin. "I win."

With his arms crossed over his chest again, Furuichi glares at his friend. "Seriously, it wouldn't kill you to share."

Oga is ignoring Furuichi and looking at an angry Beelzebub. "You wanted some too? Sorry."

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

 **"Uh.. Oh right! The winner of the Indirect Kiss Competition is surprisingly, the Oga-Furuichi team! The final match will be between Aiba-Kunieda and Oga-Furuichi in ten minutes!"**

Furuichi remembers too late that he isn't in his bedroom fighting with Oga over the last coke, but instead in a competition for couples in front of several people watching. He turns bright red in embarrassment, the implications of what he and Oga did on stage finally catching up to him. He curses the Brainless Furuichi inside him. He climbs down from the ring and heads to the bathroom to wash his face. Some of the water left a sticky feeling on his chin where it dribbled. Honestly, it's hard for Furuichi to remember a time when they didn't share a drink.

The first time was in 5th grade right after they had become friends. Furuichi had reached for his drink, but noticed it was gone. He watched Oga drinking out of it and seemed kind of put out. "Oga, that's my drink."

"No it's not. It's mine."

Furuichi had sighed. "No. That's mine. You never took yours out of the bag."

Oga looks at the bottle he was drinking from and shrugs as he takes another drink. "Eh. Who cares? It's too late now. Let's just share."

Furuichi, not seeing a problem, takes another bite of his sandwich and nods. "Okay."

The second time they shared a drink was a couple weeks later. Oga had sat down next to Furuichi and opened his bag. "Dammit! I forgot to grab a drink!"

Furuichi sips his water. "Sucks for you."

Oga reaches for the bottle in his friend's hand. "Hey hey! Share!"

Furuichi hands his bottle over with a scolding look. "Fine, but remember to bring one next time."

The third time was the next week when they were in the store to buy a last minute lunch. Furuichi had his arms full of books for class and barely had enough room to grab a packaged sandwich.

Oga watches him walk to the register. "Aren't you goinna get a drink?"

Furuichi gives him a look as if to ask if he was stupid. "Does it look like I have any room in my arms to carry one?"

Oga studies the smaller boy and then his own drink. "Fuck it, just share with me."

Furuichi smiles and walks with his friend to the register. "Sure, okay."

Drying his face, Furuichi looks in his reflection. They had been sharing drinks for years after that, but it never seemed romantic or dirty. He starts to think deeply. Last year, he had blushed and felt excited when he saw the indirect kiss competition, but being apart of the competition this year with Oga, he started to feel ashamed of his past self. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he smiles. It doesn't count if it's not with a girl right? So he has nothing to worry about! Now Oga and he were in the finals and if he remembered correctly, it was a brawling event. Furuichi leaves the bathroom and goes over to the ring where the teams are starting to be called in.

When the four teens enter the ring, a helper holds two face down cards to each team. Aiba and Furuichi are left holding blue star cards and Kunieda and Oga are left with yellow heart cards. They look at their cards confused, when the intercom clicks.

 **"Last year, there were complaints that the events were too violent and not very couple-related so we have remedied that with this new final match. This year, the best couple title will be determined based on the results of this match. The Pocky Game!"**

Furuichi chokes. "What!"

 **"For those of you unfamiliar with the game, two people will hold a pocky stick between their lips and eat it until the stick is gone. If someone pulls back before the stick is gone, then they lose. If no one pulls away and their lips meet, the first person to pull away from the kiss first loses. If after one minute, neither looks ready to pull back, they will begin again with another pocky stick until one of them does pull back. The pairs are determined by the matching cards you picked earlier."**

Furuichi stares at his card, his face burning red. Why did he get out of bed again? Every sign this morning was warning him of this moment, he was sure of it. The world, knowing of his woman-chasing heart, was trying to warn him of this embarrassing moment he was going to experience with a guy.

 **"The final match will begin, Now!"**

A couple helpers climb into the ring and set up four chairs, two pair close and facing each other. On a table in between each pair is a single box of chocolate pocky. Aiba smirks and casually walks to the chair, sitting down and opening the box. Pulling a stick from the package and putting it between his lips, Aiba mocks Furuichi. The smaller boy's face gets hotter as he walks and sits across from him, their knees tangling together with how close they are.

Kunieda is dizzy with nerves and excitement. Her face is too hot and she walks clumsily to the chairs. Oga is already in his chair, giving Beel a stick with a smile. Seeing that makes her calm down a little as she sits down and knocks knees with her crush. Her heart quickens as he puts a stick between his teeth and she leans closer to grab the other end. Kunieda looks into Oga's eyes and as she expected, his eyes hold nothing but competetiveness. Stubborness to win. Nothing else. He really is clueless when it comes to romance. Kunieda steels herself and starts making her way forward, biting through the pocky. Oga crunches closer, slightly faster than her. They reach the middle too quickly and the feeling of Oga's lips on hers overwhelms Kunieda. Her heart skips a beat and her face feels as if it's melting, steam coming from her ears. She looks into Oga's eyes again, seeing if maybe an actual kiss would awaken his romance, but she still sees a challenge. Noticing that there is still a piece of pocky between their lips, Oga swipes his tongue between them to grab it. Yelping, Kunieda jolts back, her vision blurring. Oga sits back and grabs two more pocky sticks, handing one to Beelzebub and munching the other with a victorious grin.

Meanwhile in the other chairs, Furuichi leans closer to grab the other end of the biscuit stick. Aiba is surprised at the challenging look the other teen is shooting him. The two boys slowly make their way to the center. Their lips meet way too soon. Furuichi's face is a deep red, but with satisfaction, he realizes that Aiba is blushing as well. Aiba is frozen with his lips against Furuichi's. He didn't think he'd actually get this far. He expected the smaller teen to pull away. There is a small piece of pocky stick in between their lips that keeps poking Furuichi's bottom lip uncomfortably, so he decides to get rid of it. Opening his mouth slightly, he sucks in a breath, vacuuming the biscuit piece into his mouth. Aiba shivers and turns a deeper shade of red as he feel the sucking on his lips. He feels Furuichi's jaw move, letting him know that the other boy swallowed the pocky piece that was between both of their lips. He breaks away suddenly, his face too red, looking away from the white-haired boy that is staring at him in confusion and smugness.

 **"Wow! Such an intense match! I'm actually a bit uncomfortable commenting on it right now! The winners of this year's St. Ishiyama Annual Christmas Couple Competition is team Oga-Furuichi! Maybe we should stop inviting Oga? Anyway, congratulations winners!"**

Furuichi looks over to see Kunieda still blushing deeply, he can almost see steam radiating off of her. He turns to see if his friend had some love sense knocked into him, but deadpans when he sees Oga eating the rest of the pocky sticks. "Can you think of anything but food?"

"I think of fighting too and manga."

Furuichi stands up. "You're hopeless."

"Wanna play?"

Furuichi looks at his friend waving a pocky stick between his teeth. Furuichi's face practically melts and as he screams, "Die!" he punches Oga in the face, knocking the biscuit stick from his mouth. Oga glares at his friend with an evil looking smirk and stands up, cracking his knuckles. Furuichi swallows and immediately runs, Oga chasing after him closely. Kunieda and Aiba, still sitting on the chairs, glance at eachother and their faces get redder, looking away.

"I was expecting a fighting match like last year," Kunieda says, finally.

Aiba nods and then stands up, holding a hand out to the girl to help her stand up. "But I'm sure you were happy to have the chance to kiss Oga."

Kunieda's blush deepens, but then it fades and she sighs. "I do think it was what I needed to finally let go."

Aiba tilts his head. "What do you mean?"

Kunieda smiles and takes the offered hand. "I think the one thing keeping me attached was the hope that if maybe I could just kiss him, he might start thinking about romance. Some part of me was hoping that I can be the one to make him care about love, but with that kiss just now, I could tell that he was still clueless. He would never think of me as anything other than Aoi Kunieda, the comrade."

Aiba listens and feels a little sorry for the girl as they walk together from the ring, but then smiles at her. "What about giving me a chance? I see every part of you."

Kunieda blushes deeply and hits him hard. "Don't say stuff like that! I'm just getting over a two-year crush!" Then she smiles and puts her hands behind her back. "Besides. I'm not sure you even like girls anymore. That kiss with Furuichi was pretty intense."

Aiba's face bursts into color and he waves his hands quickly in front of him. "No! I am still attracted to you."

Kunieda laughs and takes out her phone. "Can I have your number? I might not be ready to give you a chance yet, but if you're still interested in a couple months, I might be willing to."

Aiba beams in excitement and pulls his phone out too. They trade numbers and continue talking. Oga runs up to them, panting. "Have you seen Idiot Furuichi? I lost him and I need to pay him back for the punch earlier."

"No. Sorry, Oga."

Aiba watches Kunieda's face as she talks to Oga. There's still a hint of attraction in her gaze, but her overall body language is freer. Oga is frowning until he sees Furuichi in the back, trying to hide behind some of the jocks of St. Ishiyama. Aiba notices the brightening of the childrearing badass's face and the teasing lilt of his voice as he chants, "I see you Furuichi!"

"I only see him that energetic when he fights," Aiba says.

Kunieda stares at Aiba and then looks over to where Oga is pulling Furuichi from under a table. "What do you think of Oga and Furuichi's relationship?"

Aiba raises an eyebrow at her. "I thought they were just childhood friends?"

Kunieda continues watching Oga, now sitting on Furuichi's lower back and pulling his legs mercilessly back, making the weaker teen slap the floor. "I give! I give! Sorry! Okay! Seriously, I give up!"

Aiba watches the two friends interact. "What do you think Oga would've done if it was anyone other than Furuichi that punched him?" Kunieda asks.

The blond hums in thought and nods. "I see your point."

Nene and Yuka take that time to run up to them. "You were so close to winning, Miss Aoi!" Nene says, congratulating the girl.

"I didn't win though," Kunieda says.

"But you got to kiss Oga, so there's a win, right?" Yuka says, leaning close as if it is a huge secret.

"I've decided to give up on Oga," Kunieda mentions, pulling her eyes from Oga getting off Furuichi, deciding he punished his friend enough. The girls gasp and then stare at her. "I'm fine. Seriously."

Yuka then frowns and then slumps her shoulders. "Then I guess you don't wanna see the pictures?"

Nene hits Yuka. "Don't mention them now!"

Kunieda blushes and steps towards her girls. "What pictures?"

Yuka smiles mischieviously as she pulls out a small stack of photos. "The pictures of the final event. We thought you'd want to keep a momento so we took several."

Kunieda gasps and snatches the photos from Yuka's hands. Her initial embarrassment from the event returns as she stares at the miniture her and Oga, noses brushing and lips indented with the other's. It's obvious the way they both feel in the photo. Oga's posture and face is loose, showing his clear disinterest, while Kunieda's body is tensed and her face is red. Aiba points and laughs as he looks over her shoulder. "Haha, look at how red your face is."

Nene pokes Aiba's shoulder. "Hey, don't tease her. You weren't much better."

Yuka then pulls another stack of photos from her bag and waves them in front of Aiba with a teasing smile. "It's actually cute how red you got, Mr. Straight Man."

Aiba grabs the stack with almost inhuman speed and stares in horror at the first picture. There they are. Him and Furuichi. Furuichi's face is calm with a dedicated gaze in his eyes. The white-haired boy's shoulders are lax, but his hands are clenching his knees. Only a light dusting of pink on his cheeks and nose shows how embarrassed he was about the situation. Mini Aiba though. His whole body is visibly tensed, his hands furled into fists on his knees. His cheeks and tips of his ears are a deep red, his eyes screaming with embarrassment. Aiba, unable to look at the picture anymore, shoves the stack back at the youngest girl.

Nene and Yuka giggle at the boy. They notice Kunieda is silent and see her studying a picture. The two girls and Aiba get curious and look over her shoulder. Kunieda seems to be studying a picture taken right after the competition. It was taken from behind Kunieda and Aiba, zoomed in between the two. On Oga's shoulder, Beelzebub is holding his pacifier with one hand while eating a pocky stick with the other. Oga is looking to the side, his eyes bright and teasing, a pocky stick between his teeth. Furuichi is tensed, his face bright red and contorted into a yell, his fist already in the air. Aiba shares a look with the two girls. Then Kunieda moves onto the next photo. This one is the immediate result of the previous. Beel is watching the pocky stick still in the air from the punch. Oga is in the middle of standing up, his eyes alive and his lips tight together in a small smirk, his body tense. Furuichi's face is still flushed, but holds a fearful expression, his body already turned to start running. Kunieda hums and hands the pictures back to Yuka. "Well I'm glad you girls enjoyed the match."

Aiba gives the girls a look and Nene and Yuka nod, getting the hint. "Miss Aoi. It's been awhile since all us Ishiyama students that were in St. Ishiyama were together, right? What do you say we get everyone together for a Christmas party?"

Kunieda stares at Nene for a moment before smiling and pulling out her planner as she starts to walk away. "That's a great idea. We keep missing each other due to different schedules and it is the holidays. I'm sure we can figure something out."

Aiba crosses his arms. "Okay. Now what's the plan?"

Yuka crosses her arms too. "It's obvious that Aoi still has feelings for Oga even if she's tyring to convince herself that she doesn't. We figure, if Oga is no longer single, then she would have to give up on him for real!"

Aiba tilts his head. "So who are you trying to hook him up with?"

Nene gives him an incredulous look. "Obviously we're going to set Oga and Furuichi up. There is so much tension between the two that it's not even funny anymore."

The three glance up to the talked about couple, now at the snack table. Furuichi is about to take a bite of a croquette when Oga's head beats his and steals a bite. They watch Furuichi scold him until a girl accidently bumps into him and Furuichi's attention is immediately focused on the girl. Nene and Yuka are surprised when the girl giggles at something Furuichi says and he starts walking with her. Aiba notices Oga's tense body and his eyes following the small teen.

"I think I know the problem," Aiba says as he watches the badass delinquent push his way between the girl and his friend, seemingly unintentionally except to Aiba. The girls look at him, expectantly. "Furuichi is clueless," he says, holding his chin in thought.

Yuka laughs. "I think you mean Oga."

Aiba shakes his head. "No. I mean Furuichi. I thought it was weird at first when Oga didn't seem interested in Aoi and even when he seemed confused when I asked him to choose between his wife and Aoi. But watching him now, I can see some differences in his attitude. During the field trip, it was mostly me, him, and the girls. He acts differently when it's just him and Furuichi."

"That doesn't explain how Furuichi is clueless though," Yuka complains, not understanding.

Nene frowns in thought, watching as Oga distracts Furuichi while Beelzebub scares the girl off with a glare. "I think I get it now. It wasn't a problem because Creepichi was, well, Creepichi, but now that he's gotten better at talking to girls, Oga is starting to flounder."

Yuka groans and grabs her hair. "Not you too? What are you talking about?"

Nene looks at her friend. "Basically, Oga likes Furuichi, but he doesn't know how to deal with those kind of feelings so he handles them the best as he can, by beating his crush up less than a normal person. Furuichi is the clueless one in this case, because he doesn't realize Oga's feelings and flirts with girls openly. It didn't bother Oga as much since the girls would hit him and call him names, but with the sudden ability to flirt successfully with them, Oga is starting to get jealous."

Yuka glances at Oga, walking so close to Furuichi that their hands almost brush each other. "So in other words we just need to get them to kiss."

Aiba and Nene nod and the three go off to find Kunieda.

Furuichi smiles as Misaki opens the door. "Takachin! Long time no see."

"It's only been a couple days," Furuichi comments as he steps inside and takes off his coat.

Misaki nudges the boy roughly as he's taking off his shoes, knocking him onto the ground. "Long enough for Tatsumi to get bored."

Furuichi pulls himself off the ground with a groan. "How can anyone be bored with you around, Misaki?"

She laughs and pulls Furuichi into a headlock. "How did Tatsumi get lucky enough to have a friend like you?"

"Beats me," Furuichi answers as he follows Misaki into the house.

Oga's mother hears the boy's voice. "Oh, Furuichi. Come on in and have some tea. It sure has gotten colder."

Furuichi walks into the kichen and a cup of tea is immediately in his hands, warming up his fingers. "Thank you." He takes a small sip and smiles at the woman. "Is Oga still asleep?"

Misaki laughs and plops onto the couch. "As if. He's just pouting in there."

"Pouting?"

The older girl leans her head back to see Furuichi. "Yeah. Apparently Tatsumi did something stupid again. Hilda told him that he can watch Beel by himself for a while if that's how he was going to act so she's been back home for a couple days."

"Hm. I wonder if Ms. Iris needed something?"

Misaki flicks her wrist. "Well whatever is happening, Tatsumi has been holed up in his room for a while."

Oga's mother sighs. "Honestly, if it wasn't him, I'd say he was acting lovesick."

Oga's father starts tearing up and wiping his eyes. "My son, falling in love with such a beautiful woman."

Misaki groans. "Dad, we've told you before, Hilda isn't Tatsumi's wife. It was all a misunderstanding."

He frowns and hits the bottom of his fist against his other hand. "Then who could he be missing so much? There is no other explanation other than he has fallen in love with the blonde!"

Furuichi takes another sip of his tea and looks up at the ceiling where Oga's room should be. Misaki notices and relaxes her body more. "Takachin, why don't you go talk to him? I'm sure he's just itching to play some games with someone other than Beel."

The boy nods and thanks Oga's mother again for the tea. He climbs the stairs and stops in front of the door. He hears nothing. Furuichi opens the door and steps inside. On the floor, sitting against his bed, is Oga sitting crosslegged and staring into Baby Beel's eyes, the baby sitting a couple inches away from him on the floor. They seem to be communicating without speaking. "Wow. You really have gone off the deep end."

Oga breaks the stare and gives Furuichi a blank look. "I've spent way too much time with this brat. Help me."

Beelzebub sees Furuichi and crawls at him, climbing his body in an instant. Furuichi looks between the two. "This shouldn't be a problem between a parent and their child."

Oga stands up and gets in the white-haired boy's face. "You don't understand! He's everywhere! I need my personal space!"

"Fine then! I'll leave you to your personal space!" Furuichi yells back as he starts to walk out the room.

Oga grabs the back of his shirt. "Hey! You can't just take Beel! Are you trying to kill me?"

Furuichi puffs out his cheeks. "Well make up your mind! Do you want space or do you want to play a damn game?"

Oga lets go of Furuichi's shirt and sits down roughly in front of his tv. "Do whatever the hell you want," he says as he pops in a disc and boots up the console.

Furuichi lets out a breath and sits down beside his friend, picking up the other controller. He misses these days where they can bicker and play games without having to deal with demons, well other than Beel. After a couple of games, Furuichi notices Beel start to slip and glancing up to see the peaceful demon baby's sleeping face. He carefully moves Beelzebub from his shoulder and settles him into his lap. He picks up his controller, but the screen remains paused. He glances at Oga. "I'm ready now."

Oga huffs and unpauses the game, starting a brutal assault of the other character. Furuichi is almost dead in the two seconds it takes him to look back at the screen. They play a few more rounds before Misaki opens the door and leans on the doorframe. "Hey kiddos. A friend from school is here to talk to ya."

Oga and Furuichi share a look before Kunieda walks in and thanks Misaki. "Oh, Kunieda," Oga says before unpausing the game.

Furuichi hits Oga upside the head the same time Misaki throws a book at him. "Don't be rude, Tatsumi!"

Beel starts to stir in Furuichi's lap and Oga immediately puts his finger to lips at his sister. "Sh! Don't wake Beel up."

Misaki and Kunieda notice the baby in Furuichi's lap at the same time. Misaki smirks and leaves them to talk. Kunieda walks in the room quietly and sits down on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry to intrude. I'm just here to invite you two to a Christmas party we planned with the other Ishiyama students for tomorrow night. It's kind of last minute, so if you can't come then it'd be okay."

Furuichi straightens up. "Ooh. I party. I can use some cheer," he says, smiling at the girl. "I'll come."

"Will there be food?"

Furuichi glares at Oga. "Seriously? What is with you and food lately? Are you a bear?"

Oga ignores his friend and Kunieda nods. "Yes. Himekawa has made sure there will be enough food."

"Himekawa? Does that mean all of them are coming?" Furuichi asks.

"Well Tojo is still an unknown with his current job, but everyone else will be there."

Oga glances at Beel sleeping quietly in Furuichi's lap and then at Kunieda. "Will you bring Kouta? I'm sure Beel would like to play with him."

Kunieda smiles. "Yes, I'm bringing Kouta. Kanzaki will have his niece and Aiba said he'd bring his little sister too."

Furuichi looks at the girl. "Aiba will be there? Are you guys friends now?"

He watches the girl blush a little and smile. "Ah. Well we're friends, I guess." Furuichi doesn't say anything else about it, but Oga looks slightly bothered. Could Kunieda be the one he started having feelings for? After all this time and after Kunieda has finally moved on, has he fallen for Kunieda after all? Kunieda senses the the mood and stands up. "We actually don't have enough people to fill the huge room Himekawa has reserved. Would it be alright if I invited your sister, Oga?"

Misaki bursts into the room with a "Hell yes!"

"Were you listening in the whole time?" Oga yells.

Misaki sticks her tongue out at him. "You betcha. And I'd be happy to come!"

Kunieda smiles and leaves the room, telling Misaki the details about where it is and at what time. Oga unpauses the game and begins playing. Furuichi glances at the other boy a few times between matches. "Does it bother you that Kunieda and Aiba are friends now?"

"They're friends?"

"You idiot! Were you not listening?"

"I just know that we're going to a party or whatever. Do you think I should eat croquettes when I first get there or cake? Though I think croquettes sound better. Hm. I'm hungry."

Furuichi grunts in frustration as Oga pauses the game and walks out the room to get something to eat. Beelzebub stirs in Furuichi's lap, then opens his eyes, making the teen freeze. Why did the baby choose the time Oga was out of the room to wake up? Beel yawns and rubs his eyes, looking up at the shocked Furuichi. He looks around and notices his father is not in the room. His eyes start to water. Where was he? He's surprised out of his sadness when Furuichi wraps his body around the baby. Completely wrapped in warmth, he looks up at the boy that is always with his father. Maybe this human isn't that bad either. He is always nice to his father and him. And thinking about it, this human is always hitting his father though he is weaker. He thinks Hilda called that bravery. This human has bravery and is nice. Beelzebub pats his stubby hand on the boy's chest with a confident, "Dah."

Furuichi unwraps from the baby and smiles down in surprise at the baby. He was expecting to be shocked. Beel raises his hand and touches Furuichi's nose, squeezing. The teen laughs, it coming out funny because of his squeezed nose. This makes Beel laugh too. Oga reenters his bedroom to the two laughing with each other. He freezes, a half-eaten sandwich in his hand. Furuichi notices him and smiles. Beel looks at his father and then suddenly remembers that he was looking for him just a moment ago. He is on his father's shoulder in no time. Oga walks over and sits back down in his seat. "Why didn't he shock the hell out of you?"

The white-haired boy shrugs. "I'm just glad he didn't."

"That's not fair. I wish he did."

Furuichi snaps his head to his friend. "What does that mean!"

Oga leans closer. "I get shocked by him all the time! It'd be nice for someone else to get shocked by him for a change!"

Beel slaps his hand on his father's cheek to get him to turn back to the tv, but he loses his balance and ends up falling to the ground between the two teens. Neither could stop the baby from crying.

The next afternoon, Furuichi leaves his house and walks over to Oga's house. Standing outside the front door is Oga, yelling into the house. He's punched in the head and falls onto the ground, Misaki closing the door behind her and trying to fix her scarf as she steps over her fallen brother. Misaki sees Furuichi and waves. "Just in time, Takachin! We're on our way over now." Oga grumbles as he walks behind Misaki, giving her funny faces behind her back. Furuichi laughs as he walks beside his friend, Beel trying to mimic the faces. "You better not be making faces at me, you damn brat."

Oga huffs and crosses his arms across his chest. Furuichi laughs again and settles into the pace. "I wasn't," the teen lies to his sister.

"Sure. I'll pretend to believe you."

It doesn't take long before they're in front of a huge building similiar to the one the group stayed in while they were searching for En. Misaki whistles in awe then looks at the piece of paper in her hand with the information. The boys follow her into the building and into an elevator. Misaki practically skips down the hallway to the room. "Why are you so excited? It's just a bunch of delinquents?" Oga asks, annoyed.

Misaki twirls to look at her brother with a smile. "A bunch of delinquents that happen to be your friends! I'm gonna tell them so many embarrassing stories of you, it's gonna be great!"

Oga's eyes widen and he scowls at his sister. "Like hell you will!"

Misaki sticks her tongue out at the angry teen and stops in front of a door, knocking a tune on the door. Himekawa answers the door with a frown, his long hair pulled back in a loose hair tie. Misaki tilts her head. "You're pretty."

"Who the hell are you?" he asks, already a little annoyed.

Oga appears over her shoulder with a "Yo."

Himekawa opens the door and moves to the side to make room for the group to come in. "Please try not to destroy this one, Oga," he sighs as the bored-looking boy passes him.

The room is huge, almost like a banquet hall instead of a room. On one wall is a large fireplace, giving off a comforting heat. There are four tables set up against one wall, piled high with snacks and refreshments. There are two couches though it's no enough to accommodate the number of people. A medium sized, elegantly decorated Christmas tree sits in a corner. Chiaki is sitting in front of the flatscreen tv, playing a video game with Kazuya, Azusa hanging on his shoulder as she watches. Kanzaki has a yogurty hanging from his mouth as he plays a card game with Natsume and Tojo, with Natsume appearing to be winning. Futaba is pouting as she pulls on her uncle's shirt to get his attention. Kunieda is sitting on one of the couches, Kouta sitting beside her, the both of them holding a plate of food. Nene and Yuka are sitting around her, talking with her. Aiba is standing, leaning over the back of the couch to talk to Kunieda. Chiyo is sitting beside Kouta, also holding a plate, trying to eat and ignore the small boy's desperate attempts. When the three newcomers walk in, Misaki sees everyone and raises a hand into the air. "Hello All! I'm Misaki Oga and I'm here just to embarrass my brother!"

"Just go home!" Oga yells.

Misaki laughs heartily and pulls Oga and Furuichi into a headlock. "I can't go home when I'm having so much fun!" Oga mumbles as she lets go of the two boys and then looks around. "Now where's the booze?"

Nene and Yuka are immediately at her side to talk to the founder of their group. Natsume chuckles as he sets a card down. "It's amusing to see how different the Ogas are in personality," he mentions.

Kanzaki makes a face. "Huh?"

Natsume shakes his head. "Nothing."

"Go Fish!" Tojo says setting a card down too.

Natsume and Kanzaki look to the brute with eyebrows raised. "I'm afraid that's not what we're playing," Natsume tries to explain, but Tojo just flicks his wrist in a dismissive manner and stands up.

"All this fishing has got me hungry. You guys want anything?"

Kanzaki says to get him another yogurty while Natsume sighs. He hates to admit it, but he has missed these idiots since he had graduated the year before. Tojo returns with a loaded plate and a yogurty which he gives to Kanzaki. The blond stares at his cards before he throws them onto the table. "I'm bored. I don't wanna play this shit anymore."

Futaba pouts and starts pulling the blond's arm. "Good. Now play with me, Hajime!"

He looks down at his niece and groans. "Why don't you go play with Oga's kid?"

She gasps and looks around until she sees that her underling was, indeed, there now. Futaba gives no second thought to her uncle as she sprints away. Furuichi walks up then and glances at the table. "Oh. What are you playing?"

Kanzaki scoops the cards up and places them in his jacket. "Nothing."

Furuichi frowns and huffs. "I was just asking a question."

Kanzaki leans back against his seat, ignoring the boy after that. Furuichi rolls his eyes and looks over at Oga. The badass is trying to pull Beelzebub from his chest, Chiyo and Futaba jumping up in front of Oga to try and be the first one to grab the nude baby. "Beel, stop being a baby! Face them like a man!" Beel looks into his father's eyes, his own sparkly with barely contained tears. Oga sighs and slumps his shoulders as he gives up trying to get rid of the baby. He looks down to the two bickering girls with a stern look. "Sorry. Beel isn't here at the moment. Try again later."

Furuichi's jaw drops as the girls nod and then walk away. He canNOT believe that worked! "Takachin!"

He looks over to the girls and sees Misaki waving her arms wildly, a bottle of beer already in hand. He smiles and walks over. "Yes, Misaki?"

The woman wraps an arm around the boy's shoulders and pulls him down to sit next to her. She takes a swig of the bottle then looks at the confused boy. "Takachin, you need to lighten up. It's a party."

Furuichi tries to pull from Misaki's grip, but her arm is locked. "I'm having fun. Don't worry about me, but maybe you shouldn't be drinking so quickly," he says as he reaches for the bottle. Misaki is quick to move her arm out of his reach, laughing at his frustrated face. Nene and Yuka watch in confusion. Maybe they were trying to hook Furuichi with the wrong Oga? Glancing around, Nene notices that a couple of people have stopped what they were doing and were now watching. Speaking of Oga. Nene watches as the boy walks past the group with a malicious smirk. That's not a good sign.

"Wow Furuchin, I didn't think you could sink any lower. Obviously I was wrong. Now not even my sister is safe around you." The room is silent. The tension in the air is too thick to breathe. Misaki closes her eyes as takes another swig of her beer, letting Furuichi go. The white-haired boy quietly stands up and socks Oga in the face as hard as he can, his expression of pure fury. Oga's head whips to the side, then he slowly turns his head to his friend, a matching expression on his face. They glare at each other, just standing still, daring the other to do or say anything. Beelzebub is confused, watching his father and Furuichi face off with such anger. He normally enjoys these emotions coming from Oga, but this time, it's different. It makes him sad. He pats softly on Oga's back to tell him so. Oga just scoffs and a smile forms on his face. "Whatever. Fuck who you wanna fuck. Not my business."

Furuichi's whole body starts shaking, his face turning red with the anger. "What the FUCK is wrong with you! You're being a complete ASSHOLE! You know I don't see Misaki that way, you fucking RETARD! You know what, just go DIE!" With that, he stomps over to the refreshments table and grabs a beer.

Oga glares at Furuichi then pointedly walks over to the couch where Kunieda and Aiba are sitting with their little siblings. With everything seeming to have calmed down for the time being, the party starts up again. Chiaki and Azusa start another game on the tv, with Kazuya hugging his girlfriend from behind, whispering to each other. Kazaki pulls out his cards again and begins a game with Himekawa and Natsume. On the couch, Kunieda and Aiba share a look as Oga pulls Beel from his back and sets him on the floor with Kouta and Chiyo. Futaba tiptoes over to the group of kids and joins them in quiet chattering. Oga looks over at them with a bored expression. "So you guys are friends now, huh?"

Kunieda blinks in surprise, afraid that saying the wrong thing would make him snap. "What?"

He points between her and Aiba, his eyebrows furrowing. "So you and Aiba aren't friends?"

Aiba smiles and lays an arm around Kunieda's shoulders. "Yep. Friends!"

Kunieda doesn't have the mindset to push his arm off. She's too busy watching Oga. He's acting as if nothing's happened. That is so like him! She's irritated, but mostly concerned. She's never seen Oga that cruel to Furuichi and this was the first time she's seen Furuichi so... so angry. What is happening between them? Aiba notices that Kunieda is too deep in her thoughts and pulls his arm away, forcing a laugh. "Oga, you have no idea how much Chi's talked about your boy since we saw you last."

Oga looks down to watch the kids and leans back on the couch, pulling his arms over the back. His eyes darken. "Yeah, I'm glad Beel can make friends."

Aiba shares another look with Kunieda. This conversation is quickly turning down a path that nobody wants. "Did Santa visit Beel this year?" Kunieda asks, hoping to break the awkward silence, though it doesn't seem to be affecting Oga.

Oga leans further back into the couch, getting into a completely relaxed position. "We didn't see anything again this year, but we're now a couple video games richer."

Aiba settles into the couch next to Kunieda. "Nice. Have you played all of them yet?'

"Not all of them. I'm still waiting for Furui-" Oga's mouth clamps shut with an audible snap, his expression darkening again.

Kunieda and Aiba look back to watch the kids, deciding that silence is better than forcing a conversation.

Meanwhile, Misaki sighs as she watches her brother pretend to be fine on the couch. "What was that about?" Yuka asks.

The woman shakes her head with a huff. "I was hoping to make Tatsumi jealous, but it went in the opposite direction I was planning."

Nene and Yuka gasp and lean closer. "You too?"

Misaki beams. "You guys noticed too? I'm not the only one?"

Nene shakes her head. "One of the main reasons for this party was to hook them up."

Misaki leans back on her hands with a sigh of relief. "That's great! I thought I was gonna be by myself with this. Well now we know that Tatsumi doesn't understand jealousy like a human being. We need to think of something else."

"But what the heck could we do after that fight?" Yuka asks, gesturing towards Furuichi chugging a beer by the refreshments table and Oga on the opposite side of the room.

Misaki waves her hand. "They'll get over it in a bit. What I'm more worried about is getting through to Tatsumi. He's really a romantic and soft person at heart, but he has this impossibly tough exterior covering it, making everything so complicated."

"Oga? Romantic?" Yuka asks, disbelieving.

"I have to agree. Aoi's had a crush on him for two years and he hasn't noticed a thing. And he beat up one of our first-years that confessed to him," Nene explains.

Misaki lets out a booming laugh. "That idiot. I know it's hard to picture, especially after that amazing display a moment ago, but he actually cares a lot. We just have to break Oga's rough exterior."

Tojo, walking by the girls during that last sentence, crouches down next to them. "Let me break his exterior."

Misaki laughs and puts a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You're odd."

Tojo cocks his head. "Odd?"

Misaki just shakes her head with a grin. "You're adorable, but I don't mean actually breaking anything."

Tojo shrugs and stands up. "Oh. Okay then."

Misaki is about to say something when something shatters. Everyone turns to see a flustered Furuichi. He notices the attention and rubs the back of his head with a faint blush on his face and a smile. "Sorry e'ryone. Jus dropped a bottle." He bends down to pick up a large piece of glass, but stumbles a bit, a look of utmost concentration on his face. Unable to deal with watching the guy fail to pick up the same shard four times, Aiba steps up to help. He smiles and tells Furuichi to step back as he quickly cleans up the mess. Furuichi watches him with a small smile, his body swaying slightly as he stands. Aiba takes one of the smaller boy's arms and leads him to the wall beside the refreshments table they were standing in front of. He helps Furuichi sit down against the wall. Furuichi flashes another smile at Aiba. "Th'nk you."

"What is that blond guy to Takachin?" Misaki asks the two girls with her.

"Aiba? They aren't really close," Yuka says.

Nene smiles mischieviously. "I wouldn't say that. They were pretty close at the St. Ishiyama Competition."

Yuka gasps and starts digging through her bag, pulling out the pictures. "You're right. I forgot about that!" She pulls a picture out and hands it to Misaki.

The brunette glances from the photo of the two boys connected by a pocky stick and hands the photo back, a sparkle in her eye. "Everything is in motion." Nene and Yuka look at each other then to the ex-RedTail in confusion. Misaki smiles and sips on her now-warm beer. "Just watch."

It doesn't take long before Oga stands up, stretching his arms into the air. He nonchalantly walks to the snack table and after a moment, cuts himself a piece of cake and without looking at the white-haired boy, sits next him on the floor. Everyone in the room is glancing over at them, nervous about another fight, but not wanting the two to know they were paying attention. Oga takes a bite of cake.

"Are ya done bein' an asshole?" Furuichi asks, not looking at the brunet.

"Are you done being a bitch?" Oga asks back.

They sit in silence for a moment before both boys break into smiles. "Thought only girls had PMS," Furuichi says as he begins to chuckle.

Oga nudges his friend's shoulder playfully and takes another bite of cake, noticing the drunken blush on the pale boy's cheeks. "You should probably stop drinking. I don't wanna have to babysit you too. Beel is enough."

Furuichi frowns. "Don' tell me what t' do," he slurs as he reaches up and grabs another bottle of beer from the edge. In honesty, he thinks he _should_ stop, but he's still a bit angry at his friend for earlier so he pops off the top and takes a long drink, glancing over at Oga to let him know that he was doing it just to defy him.

Oga shrugs. "Fine. Then at least share."

Furuichi hands the bottle over to the brunet and watches him take an equally long drink, glancing back at him. Furuichi knows it's a challenge from his friend. It's supposed to get a rise out of him. He's supposed to yell about not drinking the rest or something. He knows this and would normally respond accordingly, but his body feels warm and sluggish and the only thing on his mind is how awful that beer must taste mixed in with the flavor of chocolate cake. He decides he has to voice this opinion. "That mus' taste pretty gross with the cake."

Oga laughs and hands the bottle back, only a sip left at the bottom. "It's not bad."

Furuichi drinks the last sip then sets the bottle on the floor by his feet before reaching up and snagging another bottle. Oga takes another bite of his cake. Furuichi takes a drink and passes it to Oga.

With the two not arguing anymore, the room relaxes as it was when the party first started. The tv is turned back up and the children start laughing and talking aloud again. Misaki, Yuka, and Nene move from the circle they were sitting in and join Kunieda and Aiba at the couch with the kids. Chiaki and the two St. Ishiyama students decide to take a break from video games and turn on the tv. Himekawa, Natsume, Kanzaki, and Tojo agree to a four-way tie since Himekawa and Kanzaki were cheating the whole time and Tojo still confused what game they were playing. They end up gathering around the tv, Himekawa and Kanzaki of course fighting over who got the remote. Yuka pulls out her camera and starts taking pictures of the kids playing, enjoying the poses they come up with. Aiba requests a picture of him and Kunieda together, making the girl blush. Yuka happily agrees. This is a special gathering. They should have a zillion pictures!

Yuka takes photos of the RedTails together, then of Nene with Misaki, then Aiba and Kunieda, then the kids together, then she skips over to the other couch. She captures Azusa and Kazuya hugging and the boys being themselves. When she is back by the other couch, Futaba demands to take pictures too. Yuka shrugs and teaches the young girl how to use it. Then she brings out her camcorder.

Oga blinks, but his vision remains blurry. He had finished his cake a while ago and for a while, him and Furuichi were just passing bottles between them. How many bottles? He doesn't remember. He can see them scattered around the two of them like a barrier from the rest of the room. He tries to concentrate. 1...2...5... Fuck! He hates math! His brain feels runny and he looks over to see how Furuichi is coping. The white-haired boy is staring blankly at his hands. Oga cocks his head and leans over, grabbing his friend's hands and encasing them. If Furuichi doesn't see them, they won't bother him, he thinks. Furuichi blinks in surprise then smiles brightly at Oga. Then he narrows his eyes.

Oga crosses his eyes. Is there something on his nose? Furuichi slips his hands out of Oga's and moves them cautiously to his friend's face. Either his hands are shaking or Oga is moving. He frowns as he concentrates and slaps his hands onto the sides of the brunet's head. Oga doesn't flinch. He doesn't feel it. He just knows that for some reason, he can't move his head as easily as before. Furuichi inches his face closer to Oga's. Oga blinks to clear the fog from his mind. It's not working. "You fucking pig," Furuichi whispers before his tongue grazes the badass's cheek. Oga doesn't know what's going on, but what he does know is that his face feels like Baby Beel had just shocked him and that the warm feeling blossoms from the spot on his cheek through his entire body, making him feel tingly and numb at the same time.

Furuichi pulls back from Oga and moves his tongue around in his mouth. When he saw that speck of chocolate icing on the delinquent's cheek, he was suddenly obsessed with it. His entire focus was on that barely noticeable dot of dark brown. He wondered if it really didn't taste bad with the alcohol. He had to try. When his tongue had touched Oga's cheek, the first thing that registered was how soft his skin was. He grins at Oga again.

The brunet takes in Furuichi's smile and suddenly it seems ridicious how far apart they are. Oga scoots closer and wraps his arms around the other's waist, lying his head down on Furuichi's shoulder, instantly comfortable. Furuichi takes it all in stride and relaxes into the other, lying his head on top of Oga's. They both promptly pass out.

Yuka waits a few moments before hitting the stop button and looking up from the camcorder. She looks at the two passed out boys then quickly flips through the settings to make sure she did in fact capture the drunken teens' tender moment. She's shaking with excitement and immediately runs to show the video to EVERYONE! At the couch, Nene and Kunieda are trying to decypher Yuka's excited game of charades when Himekawa's sudden exclamation of "What the hell?" gets everyone's attention. Following his eyes, everyone sees what they never thought was possible. Oga Tatsumi, the childrearing badass, the Mad Dog, the Raging Ogre, the top dog of Ishiyama, has a faint blush dusting his cheeks as he dozes, cuddled up to Furuichi, a look of contentment on his face. Everyone's immediate reaction is to pull out their phones and start snapping pictures. Misaki's eyes soften at the view and looks down at Beel in her lap with a huge smile. Beel smiles back, not knowing what's going on, but knowing it's a good thing.

Finally getting over the overwhelming excitement that restricted her voice, Yuka practically sprints to the tv and starts pulling at the cords, trying to find one to connect to her camcorder. "You guys have GOT to see this!"

"You're cheating," Kazuya grunts as he mashes buttons furiously on his controller and tries to see from behind Oga, who decided that Kazuya didn't need to see the screen anymore.

"No I'm not. I'm challenging you. Giving you hurdles. I'm training you," Oga says, leaning side to side to block the younger's view.

Furuichi lays down a card then looks up from his game of poker with Beelzebub. "You are definitely cheating, Oga."

Oga shrugs and continues cheating, winning another round. Beelzebub, with a confident "Dah!", sets down his cards and crosses his arms in victory. Furuichi sets his down with a sigh. "I win again." Beelzebub looks heartbroken then incredibly annoyed.

He starts kicking the cards around then grabs one to tear it in half, but with his weak arms, isn't able to. He crawls over to Oga with the card in hand, then holds it out for his father. Oga glances at the baby then frowns. "Beel. Part of being a man is accepting when you've lost."

Furuichi's jaw drops. "Are you serious? You were cheating so you wouldn't lose not 5 minutes ago."

Oga nods. "Exactly. I didn't lose so I didn't need to accept anything."

The white-haired boy shakes his head as he starts picking up the cards. "Oga, you're missing the point I'm trying to make here."

Kazuya watches them with amusement. He could see the two were close during the St. Ishiyama Christmas competition, but it wasn't until the Ishiyama Christmas party that he realized just how close they were. Then Azusa informed him that they were both idiots and weren't actually together and the girls were trying to get them together like they clearly needed to be. Kazuya agreed and joined in. He clears his throat. "I've been wondering this for a while, but you guys have been friends for so long, so why don't you call each other by your first names?"

The two stop bickering as they look at Kazuya. He almost laughs. The looks they gave him told him that they never even thought about it. They look from Kazuya to each other then quickly turn to do something else. Furuichi starts shuffling the cards and Oga starts another match. Kazuya thinks he won't get an answer, but in the middle of delivering a combo attack, Oga seriously answers, "He's Furuchin. He doesn't need to be anyone else."

Furuichi huffs. "Don't call me that," and that was all.

A couple hours later Kazuya stands up after losing another round, (yes Oga cheated again), and stretches with a yawn. "It's getting late. I'm going to head home."

Furuichi smiles at him and waves goodbye as he thanks Kazuya for coming over. Oga just waves then immediately starts changing the game disc. He holds out the other controller for Furuichi to play. Furuichi glances at the baby sleeping peacefully on his bed then sits beside Oga to play video games. It's not until the third round that Furuichi notices that Oga keeps glancing at him while playing. Without glancing back, Furuichi asks, "What the hell are you staring at?"

Oga's eyes never leave the screen as he says, "Takayuki."

Furuichi's head whips to the side to look at Oga. Did he just-? He forces his eyes back on the tv. "Don't be weird, Oga."

"I don't know what you mean, Takayuki."

Furuichi's heart is beating fast and off rhythm and it hurts a little. He doesn't like it. "Seriously, Oga. Stop it."

Oga glances over and sees Furuichi's uncomfortable expression. He grins evilly. Furuichi groans. That's not a good sign.

"Thank you so much for the meal," Furuichi says as he claps his hands together and rubs them together as the smell from the cooked meat reaches his nose.

"It's really no bother, Takayuki," Oga's mother says with a smile.

Furuichi looks at her. She's never called him by his first name before. He's always been Furuichi. Misaki catches the look then laughs. "Takachin! What's with that face?"

He embarrassedly shakes his head.

Oga's mother covers her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry. I called your first name. I just hear it all the time now, it's the first thing that came out of my mouth. Please forgive me."

Furuichi is really embarrassed now. He waves his hands back and forth in front of him. "No, no! It's okay. Really! It just caught me offguard."

Oga's mother places a hand on her chest. "Oh thank goodness."

As they eat, Furuichi glances over at Oga. He's facing away from him and feedng Beel. Furuichi can sense something different with Oga. He seems tense.

After dinner, the boys go back up to Oga's bedroom. Before Furuichi even walks the door, Oga has a game booted up and Baby Beel is holding the other controller. Furuichi shrugs and picks up some manga. Oga starts arguing with Beel about the game, but when Furuichi comments, Oga says nothing back. The smaller boy frowns. Is he ignoring me? What's wrong with him? Furuichi gets tired of it quickly. "I guess I'll head home since SOMEBODY keeps ignoring me."

He stretches and starts walking to the door when a futon is thrown at him. It almost knocks him off his feet. He turns and sees Oga looking at him, his arm still outstretched from throwing it. Still not saying anything, Oga turns back to the game and unpauses it, talking with Beelzebub. Furuichi sighs. Though he still wishes that Oga would stop being weird and just talk to him, he guesses this wasn't too bad. He sets up the futon beside the bed and lays down. Furuichi watches the two play and again notes how Oga looks tense. His back is straight instead of arched in boredom. He ends up dozing off.

An hour later, Furuichi wakes up to a quiet room, barely lit by the halfmoon outside. He sits up when he hears movement on the bed. He smiles a little when he sees Oga curled around Beel in his sleep. The Mad Dog always complains about the baby demon lord, but just seeing this, he can clearly tell how much Oga loves Beel. Speaking of Oga... Furuichi watches Oga's face and for the first time, notices how smooth and relaxed Oga looks in his sleep, snuggling into the small baby. Furuichi's heart beats faster, his body warming up too quickly. His face feels like it's on fire. Furuichi shakes his head violently and throws himself back onto the futon, trying to calm down.

Oga grumbles as they stop so a girl can give Furuichi some chocolate. He doesn't understand why everyone is starting to mess with his friend when for so long they just ignored him. Oga looks up to Beel and see the baby eyeing the chocolates in his own hands. Some girls gave him chocolate too, but he doesn't remember who or what they look like. The chocolate is good though. After Furuichi thanks the girl, he starts scolding Oga for looking so offput whenever a girl gives him something. "It's Valentine's Day! At least look thankful that these girls made you these chocolates!"

Oga just shrugs and continues walking. He doesn't care about Valentine's Day or any chocolate he does or doesn't get. What he cares about is that the same girls who used to punch his best friend in the mouth and scream obscenities at him are now being obnoxiously sweet and giving him chocolates. Oga can't stand the fakeness of them. What's worse is that Furuichi doesn't even seem to care. Oga's shoulders tense as yet another girl stops the two to give the white-haired boy some chocolates. He grunts and walks ahead, leaving his friend with the girl.

Furichi thanks the first-year again and turns to see Oga gone. Hm. He must've gone ahead. Furuichi can't help but smile. The year before, he didn't receive any chocolate. He was always the loser who was shadowed by Oga, the Raging Ogre. Now he's gotten six boxes of chocolate and no insults. Even Honaka has decided that Furuichi no longer needs lessons and has graduated Talking to Girls 101. He gets to the roof and see Oga and the Redtails already there eating lunch. He sits down next to Oga and sighs in content. "I'm so happy that I'm no longer considered a creep. Goodbye Creepichi forever!"

Nene looks at the boy. "You may no longer by Creepichi, but you're stll a lolicon."

Yuka sticks her tongue out. "Lolicon."

Furuichi pouts as he gets defensive. "I told you that I'm not a lolicon!" Oga uses that time to take a heartshaped box from Furuichi. The white-haired boy gasps. "Hey! That's mine! You have your own."

Oga takes a piece out of Furuichi's box and feeds it to Beel. "So how is it?"

Beelzebub nods then stops and gives a thumbs down. Furuichi bristles. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that my chocolate is better," Oga says bluntly.

Furuichi eats one of his chocolates. He hums then he looks to the baby. "My chocolate is delicious! I don't know what you're talking about."

Oga takes a piece of chocolate out of one of his boxes and holds it out for Furuichi to try. Furuichi shakes his head stubbornly and pops another of his chocolates in his mouth. Oga grins. "Okay. I guess you're too scared to lose and that's why you don't want to try mine."

Furuichi rolls his eyes. "Baby Beel is going to say you won because you're his father. It's bias-." Before he can even finish talking, Oga is shoving one of his chocolates in his mouth. Furuichi sputters and chokes a bit before swallowing. He decides that he won't tell Oga that Beel was right. It'll just make his ego even bigger. Furuichi grabs one of his chocolates and shoves it in Oga's mouth while the delinquent is laughing. "Here! You try for yourself."

That started a war. The two boys start smearing chocolate all over each other in retaliation for something or other. Beelzebub, not wanting to be left out, joined in.

On the other side of the roof, the girls are taking pictures of the trio and sending them to everyone in Operation OgaFuru. "I think I'm going to start betting on when they finally get together."

Nene and Yuka look at Kunieda with wide eyes. "Really? You're okay with that?" Yuka asks.

Kunieda nods with a smile and nods her head to the chocolate covered boys. "Look at them. It's obvious now that they go together."

Nene smiles when she realizes that Kunieda is fine and finally over Oga. Chiaki snaps another picture of the boys, now taking a break from the fight and laughing at how ridiculous the other looks. "Cute," is all she says.

Kunieda takes down their bets in a small notebook she had in her pocket.

Beelzebub drums on Oga's back, making his own rhythm as he chatters. Furuichi walks out of the convenience store with a plastic bag. He pulls out a melon bread and hands it to Oga then pulls out a new issue of manga. Oga breaks off a third of the melon bread and gives it to Beelzebub who happily accepts it. Furuichi is reading the manga as he walks, Oga walking beside him. Not being able to see the book very well the way they are, Oga drapes an arm over Furuichi's shoulders and leans in as they walk so they can both read at the same time.

Furuichi's nose wiggles and he laughs. "Your breath smells like melon bread," he says, looking up at Oga. Their faces are centimeters away. Too close. Way too close. Both boys are frozen, looking at the other, not even breathing. Then Furuichi looks away the same time Oga pulls away from him, looking the other direction. Then they're walking again, making small talk as if the moment didn't happen.

Beelzebub munches on his bread quietly as he looks between his father and Furuichi. What happened? Why were they walking seperately? The two looked comfortable the way they were before. Beelzebub frowns as he chews. He doesn't understand. His father looks at Furuichi the same way his real father looks at his mother. Doesn't that mean that they should kiss like his real parents? Beelzebub looks between the two again. Come to think of it, Beel doesn't remember ever seeing his father and Furuichi kiss. It just doesn't make any sense to him. It must be a human thing, he decides, nodding to himself and taking another bite of his melon bread.

Oga and Furuichi are sitting on a park bench with Beel playing a few feet away in a sandbox. The brunette groans as he leans back. "Hilda came back yesterday and the first thing she does is yell at me for playing my video games."

Furuichi looks at his friend. "Did she destroy this console too?"

Oga groans again. "Yes! That woman has no clue how expensive they are! I told her she had to pay me back, but she just ignored me!"

Furuichi laughs. Oga swallows silently as he watches Furuichi. His heart jumps a little. He ignores it. Again. "You should know by now that Hilda doesn't care about stuff like that."

"Oh shove it, Takayuki."

Furuichi frowns and turns to Oga. "Again with that?"

Oga nods, one corner of his mouth upturned in a smile. "It's because it annoys you."

Furuichi shakes his head and chuckles. "Yeah. That's just like you."

Oga's heart speeds up, which he didn't think was possible. He's almost certain the white-haired boy can hear it. His body is warm and his stomach feels fuzzy and he is hyperaware of Furuichi sitting next to him. He's been feeling like this for a while, but this is the first time it feels so intense. At first when he started getting this feeling, he tried to ignore it, but that didn't help anything. The feelings only grew. Then Oga started teasing Furuichi more. Maybe making his friend mad would make the feelings go away when he was around him, but Furuichi never really got mad so Oga's feelings were intact.

When Oga saw Misaki and Furuichi together at the party, the feeling inside him warped and twisted into something unpleasant. He finally made Furuichi angry, but instead of making his feeling go away, it just made him miserable. What were these feelings? Why did they haunt him? Then of course that kid Kazuya had to bring up first names. Oga always thought about Furuichi as Furuichi, but when he tried the name Takayuki out loud, Furuichi could no longer just be Furuichi. Now even the thought of 'Takayuki' gives him excited shivers down his back.

Oga's feelings were getting to be too much, so he thought that ignoring the other would help. He didn't talk to him and barely even looked at him. That almost backfired when Furuichi almost went home though. He didn't want the smaller boy to leave, he just didn't want to look at him. That night, he gave up his resolve to ignore his friend when he saw him sleeping. Running out of ideas to get rid of his evergrowing feelings for Furuichi, he decided to just act normally around him again. Everything was fine. Until it wasn't. Now here he is, watching Furuichi laugh, his heart about to explode, and all he can think is, "Takayuki."

Furuichi is about to start arguing about using his first name too much when he notices Oga's serious expression and bright, serious eyes. "What's wrong, Oga?"

"Fight me."

Furuichi frowns and sits up straight. "What? No."

Oga sits up too. They're staring at each other intensely. "Come on. Please."

Furuichi is about to refuse again, but he can see the seriousness in Oga's eyes. He can almost feel the other begging. He takes a deep breath. He knows he's going to get hurt. He won't win, but it's something Oga needs for some reason, so he'll do it. Furuichi nods and stands up. "Okay. Just this once though. I don't particularly like getting hurt."

Oga picks up Beelzebub and the three walk until they're under a bridge by the river. Setting Beelzebub in some grass, Oga warns him not to get in the way and don't run off. Then Oga and Furuichi are facing off. Oga's first few punches are hesitant and only hurt a little, but then he starts getting into a rhythm. With each punch, he thinks about little things that made his heart beart differently and times he obsessed about his friend more than was normal. He was trying to pound the feelings and thoughts out of him, using the object of these thoughts to do so, but it's not working. For the first time in his life, he can't punch the feelings away.

"Why isn't it working?" Oga yells, punching again.

Furuichi isn't resisting. He's bruised all over, but he doesn't care about that. His only worry is about how confused his friend looks. He's never seen Oga look this vulnerable. Furuichi reaches out and pulls Oga into a hug. It's the only thing he can think of. Oga's heart is beating erratically. What was he scared of? Furuichi squeezes his friend tighter.

Oga's heart feels like it's in his throat. The feelings are overwhelming him now. This isn't what he wanted! He grabs Furuichi's shoulders and shoves the smaller boy away, knocking him into a wall. Raising his fist to punch Furuichi again, the white-haired boy surprises Oga by landing his own quick punch on the brunet's face.

On instinct alone, Oga grabs the front of Furuichi's shirt, pulls him forward, and kisses him roughly.

Furuichi didn't want to get out of bed this morning. His whole body was sore and throbbed in pain. Oga really did beat the snot out of him. Thinking about the day before made Furuichi nervous. Oga had kissed him. That much he knew. He didn't know why though. Or if Oga even knew why, being the romance-dumb person everyone thought he was.

Walking to school was nerve-wracking. He kept his distance from everyone and was extremely jumpy. What if everything between him and Oga have changed? Furuichi meets up with Oga and Beelzebub at the front of the school. Furuichi looks everywhere but Oga as they make awkward small talk. Oga glances at Furuichi worriedly as they walk into the building. Now there's awkward silence filling the space between them.

Furuichi is gathering courage to ask Oga about the kiss when they get to an abandoned hallway, but Oga breaks the ice first. "Idiot Furuichi," he says as he punches Furuichi in a bruised shoulder. Furuichi falls sideways into the wall, hitting his other bruised shoulder, making him wince. He rolls onto his back against the wall.

"Oi! What was that for?"

Oga steps closer to him, his face unreadable. Furuichi closes his eyes, expecting to be punched again, but is surprised by a shockingly gentle press of lips against his. He opens his eyes quickly and connects eyes with the taller boy. Both of their faces turn an interesting shade of red as Oga pulls back. Looking away to force the blush away, Oga turns back to Furuichi. "Stop being weird, Takayuki."

Furuichi's heart pounds pleasantly. Now that he recognizes why his heart was beating so fast when Oga spoke his name, he wishes he'd hear it all the time. "Okay, Tatsumi."

Oga's face reddens again, making Furuichi laugh. Oga grumbles and starts walking away. Furuichi laughs some more as he jogs to catch up. He doesn't remember why he was so worried earlier. Of course Oga would still be Oga and they'll still be friends. Their relationship wasn't ending, it was evolving into something more beautiful.

Beelzebub hugs Oga's head, telling his father in his own way that he was proud of him. On the other end of the not-as-abandoned-as-they-thought hallway, Chiaki was mass-texting a photo of the couple with "I Win," underneath it.

The End

Author Notes: I've been working on this story forever! Months at least! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I enjoyed writing it. Like I said before, I'm sorry if there are mistakes. 3


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